memeorandum: Sen. John Kennedy doubles down on claims of Ukrainian interference (Ursula Perano/Axios)

5:05 PM ET, December 1, 2019

Top Items:

Justin Baragona / The Daily Beast:

Chuck Todd to GOP Senator: You're Selling the Same Argument as Putin! — Chuck Todd was left gobsmacked by Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) when the GOP lawmaker said the ex-Ukrainian president “actively worked” for Hillary Clinton. — A week after claiming that he didn't know whether Russia …

Discussion: The Hill and Hullabaloo

Ursula Perano / Axios:

Sen. John Kennedy doubles down on claims of Ukrainian interference — Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) argued in a testy exchange on NBC's “Meet the Press” that he believes “both Russia and Ukraine meddled in the 2016 election,” claiming without evidence that former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko “actively worked” for Hillary Clinton.

Discussion: HuffPost, Daily Kos, Slate and Political Wire

Washington Post: The damage done to Ukraine

David Morgan / Reuters:

Trump faces two deadlines as U.S. Congress ramps up impeachment focus — WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump faced two deadlines in Congress this week as Democrats prepared to shift the focus of their impeachment inquiry from fact-finding to the consideration of possible charges …

Discussion: Raw Story

Ben Kamisar / NBC News:

Klobuchar says impeachment probe has uncovered a ‘global Watergate’ — The Democratic presidential candidate told NBC's “Meet the Press” that Congress has an obligation to move forward with impeachment. — WASHINGTON — Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., said Sunday that Congress has an obligation …

Adia Robinson / ABC News:

President, lawyers should participate in impeachment hearing: Demings, McClintock — Reps. Val Demings, D-Fla., and Tom McClintock, R-Calif., said on ABC's “This Week” that they think having President Donald Trump or his lawyers participate in Wednesday's House Judiciary Committee impeachment hearing …

Discussion: Townhall, HuffPost, POLITICUSUSA, The Hill and Contemptor

Jacob Knutson / Axios:

Top Judiciary Republican demands Schiff testify in impeachment hearing — Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.), ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, said on “Fox News Sunday” that the first witness Republicans will attempt to call in the upcoming impeachment hearing is House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.).

Discussion: ABC News

Heather Caygle / Politico:
Intelligence Committee to begin circulating draft Ukraine report Monday

Discussion: Washington Post, Breitbart, The Gateway Pundit, HotAir, The Hill, Talking Points Memo, NBC News, UPI, CNN, Townhall and Raw Story

Peter Baker / New York Times:
Long Before Trump, Impeachment Loomed Over Multiple Presidents

Discussion: Politico

Steve Contorno / Tampa Bay Times:

Ron DeSantis isn't on Donald Trump's TV anymore. That's on purpose. — Once the president's top defender on Fox News, Florida's governor has disappeared from Trump's favorite network. — There was a time when President Donald Trump could turn on Fox News at any given hour …

Mike Allen / Axios:

Why the Democratic nominee might ultimately be chosen at the July convention — Democrats say a very realistic scenario now calls for Pete Buttigieg to win Iowa, Elizabeth Warren to win New Hampshire, Joe Biden to win South Carolina and Bernie Sanders to win Nevada.

Discussion: ABC News, NBC News, Outside the Beltway, The Hill, Fox News and Washington Post

Mary Kay Linge / New York Post:
Joe Biden munches wife Jill's finger at Iowa campaign stop

Discussion: Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and Twitchy

Tim Stickings / Daily Mail:

Revealed: Six of London Bridge terrorist Usman Khan's fellow Stock Exhange bomb plotters have also been freed from prison since 2012 — Six of the eight terrorist plotters who were jailed along with London Bridge attacker Usman Khan in 2012 have also been freed from prison, it has emerged.

Discussion: Power Line and The Sun

Reuters: UK Labour's Corbyn: Convicted terrorists should ‘not necessarily’ serve full sentences

New York Times:

Trump's Intervention in SEALs Case Tests Pentagon's Tolerance — Chief Petty Officer Edward Gallagher's case pits a Pentagon hierarchy committed to enforcing longstanding rules of combat against a commander in chief with no military experience but a finely honed sense of grievance against authority.

Discussion: Hullabaloo, Axios, Redstate, POLITICUSUSA, Fox News, DownWithTyranny! and Raw Story

Darren Samuelsohn / Politico:

Justice's election-year conundrum: How to probe team Trump — The Justice Department is in another election-season jam — faced with politically loaded decisions over how aggressively to investigate President Donald Trump and his allies in the heat of the 2020 campaign.

Discussion: Raw Story and Law & Crime

Will Bunch / The Philadelphia Inquirer:

In America, the law is the law* (*if you're poor, undocumented or nonwhite) — You raise your child to grow up to be a man like Delmer Joel Ramirez Palma. The Honduran native — married, raising a 10-year-old son in New Orleans — supported his family by working construction.

Discussion: Washington Post and UPI

New York Times:

With Brutal Crackdown, Iran Convulsed by Worst Unrest in 40 Years — What started as a protest over a surprise increase in gasoline prices turned into widespread demonstrations met with a systematic repression that left at least 180 people dead. — Iran is experiencing …

New York Times:

How a Divided Left Is Losing the Battle on Abortion — Miscalculations, and an unexpected victory by President Trump, have put abortion access at its most vulnerable point in decades, and the left on the defensive. Now it is trying to recover. — ATLANTA — The pin was small, and rusted on the back.

Raphael Minder / New York Times:

Assange to Testify on Being Recorded in Embassy in London — Recordings have emerged of private conversations that Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks founder, had while living in the Ecuadorean Embassy. He and a Spanish prosecutor blame the United States. — MADRID — This much has become clear …